Recent actions against some customer accounts

Our Terms of Service team recently took action against some accounts playing Star Wars: The Old Republic, and we wanted to give you some insight into what happened and why.

First, action was taken against a number of accounts for what's commonly known as 'gold farming' - or in our case, credit farming. These accounts were found to be exploiting the game in a variety of ways to maximize their credits in order to sell them to other players. Our Terms of Service team took action against these accounts and removed them permanently from the game.

Second, a smaller number of accounts were warned or temporarily suspended for exploiting loot containers on Ilum. To be completely clear, while players may choose to travel to Ilum earlier than the recommended level (40+) and may loot containers if they can get to them, in the cases of those customers that were warned or temporarily suspended, they were systematically and repeatedly looting containers in very high numbers resulting in the game economy becoming unbalanced.

None of these accounts were banned for their actions and no accounts have been banned for travelling to Ilum while still relatively low level. By comparison, the number of accounts that were warned or temporarily suspended was considerably lower than the number of accounts banned for 'credit farming'.

It's important to remember that our Terms of Service team is extremely careful and thorough in their investigation of any potential exploit or unusual activity in-game. Working closely with the development team and using extensive metrics based on player activity, they are able to determine what is normal player activity, what is unusual and what is exploiting. Our goal is always to ensure a fair game experience for all players while also protecting the rights of individuals, and if people are disrupting the play experience for others action will be taken.

While we will not discuss the details of any individual action, whenever we take action against an account we believe they have clearly broken our Terms of Service. Any action taken against an account can be appealed and in some cases actions have been rescinded.

While we understand people's concern about actions taken against accounts, please remember the Terms of Service team exists to help ensure a balanced and fair game experience for all. When you see reports of actions taken against someone's account, remember they are choosing to tell their version of the story - and there are two sides to every story.

In summary, our Terms of Service team took action against a number of accounts that were 'credit farming' to remove them permanently from the game. They also warned and temporarily suspended - but did not ban - a smaller number of accounts for activities on Ilum that were decided to be game exploits.

Some adjustments will be made to Ilum in the near future to discourage future exploits. However, the planet is still open to anyone who wishes to travel there.

The goal of the Star Wars: The Old Republic team is to maintain a service for our customers that is fun to play and equitable for everyone. Critical to this goal is making sure that gameplay is fair and reasonable and we are constantly on the lookout for anything that would prove to be a detriment to your gameplay experiences.

Second, a smaller number of accounts were warned or temporarily suspended for exploiting loot containers on Ilum. To be completely clear, while players may choose to travel to Ilum earlier than the recommended level (40+) and may loot containers if they can get to them, in the cases of those customers that were warned or temporarily suspended, they were systematically and repeatedly looting containers in very high numbers resulting in the game economy becoming unbalanced.

So make the containers level acessible... Example: Level 40 + Can open them.

Possible, but probably not something they considered with all the other stuff they had to do for release. I'm sure they'll patch it in, but in the meantime, rules are rules.

If you want an inflated and broken economy, sure. Just look at WoW, even low level items were being sold for 10x what they were actually worth, and it got progressively worse as time went on.

You will not ever be able to control the economy in an MMO. It is a living thing and banning people for making too much money is only going to alienate some of your player base. Planned economies don't work in real life and they don't work in MMOs.

So make the containers level acessible... Example: Level 40 + Can open them.

/eyeroll.

Whilst they may have to now to avoid the exploit, there could theoretically have been an exploration factor in being sneaky or clever enough in getting to a few whilst at lower level. Clearly nobody remembers the thrill of doing stuff when the game wasn't really supposed to let you do it, whether soloing a heroic, or finding a clever way to avoid enemies. Edge gaming, if you like. Seeing where the railroads end. Or maybe that's the tester in me talking

Taking that to exploit levels and actually breaking the game is of course not what I mean; there's a difference between finding an edge for the fun of it and using a game mechanic for inappropriate gain.

For 2000 Cartel Coins, a year-old game breaking bug may get fixed.
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So if your skill in slicing brings you to Ilum but your lvl isn't 40+ you get suspended ? Seems very unfair.

if this is not the case please correct me.

Well first off has nothing to do with slicing. It has to do with looting the containers which anyone can open. Second didnt you just read what he said? He said you can go slice there all you want they dont even ban people who now and again loot the containers. They only banned people who were camping the things.

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The statements and opinions expressed on these websites are solely those of their respective authors and do not necessarily reflect the views, nor are they endorsed by Bioware, LucasArts, and its licensors do not guarantee the accuracy of, and are in no way responsible for any content on these websites.